Relief from the Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Conviction: A State-By-State Resource Guide

A collection of individual state documents that can be downloaded. Includes state law regarding loss of rights due to a felony conviction, process of restoration, pardon/expungement information, and contact information of corresponding agencies

The Magnetic Fields of the Universe and Their Origin

Recent rotation measure observations of a dozen or so galaxy clusters have revealed a surprisingly large amount of magnetic fields, whose estimated energy and flux are, on average, $\sim 10^{58}$ ergs and $\sim 10^{41}$ G cm$^2$, respectively. These quantities are so much larger than any coherent sums of individual galaxies within the cluster that an efficient galactic dynamo is required. We associate these fields with single AGNs within the cluster and therefore with all galaxies during their AGN phase. Only the central, massive black hole (BH) has the necessary binding energy, $\sim 10^{61}$ ergs. Only the accretion disk during the BH formation has the winding number, $\sim 10^{11}$ turns, necessary to make the gain and magnetic flux. We present a model of the BH accretion disk dynamo that might create these magnetic fields, where the helicity of the $\alpha - \Omega$ dynamo is driven by star-disk collisions. The back reaction of the saturated dynamo forms a force-free field helix that carries the energy and flux of the dynamo and redistributes them within the clusters.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure (figures.png), invited talk at IAU 19

The Origin of the Magnetic Fields of the Universe: The Plasma Astrophysics of the Free Energy of the Universe

(abridged) The interpretation of Faraday rotation measure maps of AGNs within galaxy clusters has revealed regions, $\sim 50-100$ kpc, that are populated with large, $\sim 30 \mu$ G magnetic fields. The magnetic energy of these coherent regions is $\sim 10^{59-60}$ ergs, and the total magnetic energy over the whole cluster ($\sim 1$ Mpc across) is expected to be even larger. A sequence of physical processes that are responsible for the production, redistribution and dissipation of these magnetic fields is proposed. These fields are associated with single AGNs within the cluster and therefore with all galaxies during their AGN phase, simply because only the central supermassive black holes ($\sim 10^8 M_{\odot}$) have an accessible energy, $\sim 10^{61}$ ergs. We propose an $\alpha-\Omega$ dynamo process in an accretion disk. The disk rotation naturally provides a large winding number, $\sim 10^{11}$ turns, sufficient to make both large gain and large flux. The helicity of the dynamo can be generated by the differential plume rotation derived from star-disk collisions. This helicity generation process has been demonstrated in the laboratory and the dynamo gain was simulated numerically. A liquid sodium analog of the dynamo is being built. Speculations are that the back reaction of the saturated dynamo will lead to the formation of a force-free magnetic helix, which will carry the energy and flux of the dynamo away from the accretion disk and redistribute the field within the clusters and galaxy walls. The magnetic reconnection of a small fraction of this energy logically is the source of the AGN luminosity, and the remainder of the field energy should then dominate the free energy of the present-day universe.Comment: invited review at the 2000 APS/DPP meeting, Quebec, 11 pages, 7 color figs (.jpg

Of Pardons, Politics and Collar Buttons: Reflections on the President\u27s Duty to be Merciful

A discussion of the President\u27s ability to grant Federal Pardons, and the moral and political factors which influence the exercise of that power. The article proposes that the President has a duty to pardon, not so much as to do justice in particular cases, but to be merciful as a more general obligation of office

Cosmic Ray Accelerators in the Large Magellanic Cloud

I point out a correlation between gamma-ray emissivity and the historical star formation rate in the Large Magellanic Cloud ~12.5 Myr ago. This correlation bolsters the view that CRs in the LMC are accelerated by conglomerations of supernova remnants: i.e. superbubbles and supergiant shells.Comment: Research Not

Does the detection of X-ray emission from SN1998bw support its association with GRB980425?

We show that the recent identification of X-ray emission from SN1998bw is naturally explained as synchrotron emission from a shock driven into the wind surrounding the progenitor by a mildly relativistic shell ejected by the supernova, the existence of which was inferred earlier from radio observations. X-ray observations imply a shell energy E~10^{49.7}erg, and constrain the initial shell velocity \beta*c and normalized wind mass loss rate, \dot{m}=(\dot{M}/10^{-5}M_sun/yr)/(v_w/10^3 km/s), to satisfy \beta^3*\dot{m}~10^{-1.5}. The inferred energy is consistent with energy estimates based on radio observations provided \dot{m}~0.04, in which case radio observations imply \beta~0.8, consistent with the X-ray constraint \beta^3*\dot{m}~10^{-1.5}. While X-ray observations allow to determine the parameters characterizing the pre-explosion wind and the mildly relativistic shell ejected by SN1998bw, they do not provide evidence for existence of an off-axis "standard" GRB jet associated with SN1998bw, that may have produced GRB980425. However, as recently pointed out in (astro-ph/0310320), the lack of observational signatures typically expected to be produced by such an off-axis jet on a 1yr time scale, may be due to a low \dot{m}<0.1, which implies that an off-axis jet will become observable only on >10yr time scale.Comment: Minor changes. Accepted to ApJ

Gamma-burst emission from neutron-star accretion

A model for emission of the hard photons of gamma bursts is presented. The model assumes accretion at nearly the Eddington limited rate onto a neutron star without a magnetic field. Initially soft photons are heated as they are compressed between the accreting matter and the star. A large electric field due to relatively small charge separation is required to drag electrons into the star with the nuclei against the flux of photons leaking out through the accreting matter. The photon number is not increased substantially by Bremsstrahlung or any other process. It is suggested that instability in an accretion disc might provide the infalling matter required

Measurements at the southern magnetic conju- gate region of the fission debris from the starfish nuclear detonation

Measurement of fission products from Star Fish high-altitude nuclear explosion with recording gamma-ray spectromete

A Haptics Symposium Retrospective: 20 Years

The very first "Haptics Symposium" actually went by the name "Issues in the Development of Kinesthetic Displays of Teleoperation and Virtual environments." The word "Haptic" didn't make it into the name until the next year. Not only was the most important word absent but so were RFPs, journals and commercial markets. And yet, as we prepare for the 2012 symposium, haptics is a thriving and amazingly diverse field of endeavor. In this talk we'll reflect on the origins of this field and on its evolution over the past twenty years, as well as the evolution of the Haptics Symposium itself. We hope to share with you some of the excitement we've felt along the way, and that we continue to feel as we look toward the future of our field